Calling Volunteers for Aarambh

This is my second post of the day. It is about calling volunteers for “Aarambh”: the state level sports event for Specially Abled people. Please read on and see if you can contribute in any form possible. I hope to see you there on February 19th.

“Aarambh” – The Beginning! Please spend 2 minutes of your precious time to read on…

If you have already been a part of rendering smiles to the Specially Abled people through Aarambh 2009 – “Sports Meet for the Specially Abled”, this is an information to you to yet again provide your priceless support for a good cause, this time on 19th Feb 2011.As for the new recipients, here is a brief about Aarambh ! Day-to-day, we see a lot of not-so-fortunate people who cannot perform the activities that we can normally do and which we have taken for granted. One such activity that they dream to do but do not have the opportunity is participation in “Sports”.

Rotaract Club District 3190, Rotaract Club of Jayanagar and Rotaract Club of Bangalore in a collaboration with Snehadeep Trust for the Disabled, came up with an initiative to organise a mega sports event “Aarambh” for the “specially-abled”, who are not-so-fortunate to participate in the sports events conducted normally.This lead to the birth of “Aarambh”.

The event in 2009 saw the participation of about 500+ children from different parts of Karnataka, in different Sports events, that were organised in the Sree Kanteerava Stadium Bangalore.

At the end of the day, the happiness on the faces of the children, the fact that they also did something which they long for, was just enough to rejuvenate the organisers and the volunteers to look back at the day with pride J.

This event “Aarambh 2008” organised by Rotaract Club of Jayanagar in 2008 was very successful and Rotaract Club of Jayanagar went on to win the prestigious “Rotaract Outstanding Project Award for South-East Asia – 2008” in the Rotary International event held at Los Angeles, USA.
This year too, we are organizing “Aarambh” on the 19th of February 2011.Since the event is being conducted on a larger scale, with opportunities for more children to showcase their talents, we need larger number of volunteers who can dedicate a single day for volunteering activities during the event.

This is a chance for some selfless help and guaranteed to give you an unmatched sense of peace at the end of the day.

In case you are interested to volunteer or know someone (family, friends, colleagues) who is/are interested, please do not hesitate to contact any of us:

Rtr Jitendra Mahato @ 9740296104 – jitendra.jitu16@gamil.com

Rtr. Asha Subramaniam @ 9886041098 – asha.subramaniam@gmail.com

Rtr. Hemanth S M @ 9986027202 – contacthemy@gmail.com

 

If you wish to volunteer, please send us an e-mail confirming your participation, before 08th of February 2011.

Link to some memories from 2009 : http://picasaweb.google.com/115884818596928349922/AARAMBH09SportsMeetForTheSpeciallyAbled?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmS7OueqaifEw#

Must Watch Link on Youtube:- 

About Rotaract:

Rotaract Club has been involved in community service for decades . Every year of growth has been imbued with the awareness that real progress brings with the first spirited move to overcome difficulties. In an effort to provide a better place for individual growth and community’s well being, Rotaract Club has been striving to help both self and others, reorganizing individuals to promote leadership qualities, responsibilities catering to reach problems and opportunities in community and worldwide. Rotaract Club comprises a team of enthusiastic members, comprising both students and working professionals.

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4th National Convention on the Right to Food and Work (6-8 Aug), Orissa

I got his email as part of my AID Bangalore campaigns and got really excited to know that my home state is going to host this year’s Convention on the Right to Food and Work. Most importantly, the Convention could not have been at a better place because Orissa is one of the poorest state of Orissa and just moving into a village, can show the pathetic state of poor infrastructure and reach. Poverty and deaths due to lack of right kind of food has always been a concern in the state. I, still, remember when couple of months back we raised funds for an AID Orissa center to sponsor 100 kids where the only reason for the poor parents not to send kids to school was: who will earn for their food and education if the kid are going to study (Mind you, the kids were in the age range of 4-8 only). I, sincerely, hope that a such a convention can increase awareness among the people in the cities so that they can take the plunge to help the poor and the needy. The venue has not been decided yet but I will keep all of you guys updated.

FOURTH NATIONAL CONVENTION

ON

THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK

6-8 AUGUST, 2010,

Place: Orissa

(Venue to be announced shortly)
Dear friends,

The Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign[1] invites you and your organization to the fourth National Convention on the Right to Food and Work, to be held in Orissa from 6-8 August 2010.

This convention, convened by the Right to Food Campaign, is extremely significant in the current context where the Government on the one hand is increasingly eroding people’s control over their livelihoods and resources while on the other, promising to enact a National Food Security Act that guarantees food security for all. With spiraling food prices and widespread drought experienced across the country last year, pushing people further into hunger and poverty, the principle of universality in food entitlements must be established in an urgent manner. The draft National Food Security Act proposed by the government, in fact falls far short of any such guarantee and even erodes entitlements that already exist.

The right to food for all can only be realised if water, land and forests are not diverted from food production and people’s control over these resources is safeguarded.  The Government has to be forced to make a commitment that nobody goes to sleep hungry. Further, with such high levels of malnutrition as in India, food security must be understood to mean “nutritional” security and not just access to cheap food grains.

It is in this backdrop that we want to discuss issues related to the question of people’s right to food that are of concern to our campaign.

Among the main issues to be discussed at the convention are: the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act; the Public Distribution System; children’s right to food; the agrarian crisis; social discrimination in the context of the right to food; food security of vulnerable groups such as the elderly, disabled, and widows; farmer’s suicides; coercive change of land use; displacement of people and its impact on food security; legal action for the right to food; and organisational aspects of the Right to Food Campaign. This will be an action-oriented event, structured around a series of parallel workshops, plenary sessions, cultural activities, and more.

Please consider organising meetings, workshops and conventions at the district/state level on these issues in advance of the national convention. This would facilitate better involvement of local groups and grassroots organisations at the national convention. Participating organisations are also invited to bring their campaign material (e.g. reports, posters, exhibitions, etc.) for circulation or display at the Orissa convention.

The cost of this convention will be met through voluntary donations and registration fees (tentatively Rs 100 per participant for three days, including food and accommodation – to be confirmed). Thus any donations that you can send will be most helpful. All participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements. Kindly book your tickets well in advance. And kindly intimate us about your participation as it will help us plan for the convention.

We request you to share news of this convention within your organization and with other interested organizations/individuals as well. The same letter in Hindi and English is attached.

For further information, please send a line to righttofood@gmail.com , check the campaign website (www.righttofoodindia.org), or contact the Right to Food Campaign secretariat at 011-2649 9563.

In solidarity,
Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign_e are

We are,

Annie Raja (National Federation for Indian Women), Anuradha Talwar (New Trade Union Initiative), Arun Gupta& Radha Holla (Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India), Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey (National People’s Movement of India), Ashok Bharti (National Conference of Dalit Organizations), Anjali Bhardwaj, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information), Asha Mishra and Vinod Raina (Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti), Colin Gonsalves (Human Rights Law Network), Kavita Srivastava (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Mira Shiva and Vandana Prasad (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan), Paul Diwakar (National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights),  Subhash Bhatnagar (National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Sector workers), Jean Dreze ( Former support group and Allahabad University), V.B.Rawat (Former support group  and Social Development Foundation)

For more information, please contact

Kavita Srivastava (0141-2594131 or 09351562965),

Dipa Sinha (09650434777)

Sejal Parikh (09560266167)

Secretariat – Right to Food Campaign

C/o PHRN

5 A, Jungi House,

Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049.

India

Website: http://www.righttofoodindia.org

Email: righttofood@gmail.com

Phone – 91 -11 -2649 9563

www.righttofoodindia.org

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[1] The “Right to Food Campaign” is an informal network of organisations and individuals committed to the realisation of the right to food in India. We consider that everyone has a fundamental right to be free from hunger. For a brief account of the campaign’s activities so far, please log into our website http://righttofoodindia.org/.

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Volunteers Required for writing exams for Blind Students

This post is going to be very short. As some of you might know, I volunteer for AID Bangalore activities and with that respect, I could not stop myself from posting this requirement that I received in my email. Unfortunately, due to some personal work commitments, I am not able to be part of this activity but I would really appreciate if anyone of you do volunteer your time for this noble cause. I have written exams a number of times like this earlier and I can assure you that one can get immense pleasure in self-satisfaction and utilizing time in the most efficient manner.

Hi Friends,

This is my personal request.

I have a group of friends (6 people) who are blind and they are studying BSc. They want help from people who have eyes and heart to write their exams. Volunteers are very much required. Volunteers want to just read the questions and write the answers dictated by the student.

Their exams are scheduled on 14th, 17th, 19th, 31st of May and 2nd, 7th of June.

Exam timings is 9.30AM to 12.30PM and

venue : BNM College near Basavannagudi.
       Surana College near Southend Circle.

Please let me know by this evening if any your friends / cousins / brothers who are free on these dates and have a heart of helping others.

My contact number is 9886469252.

Anil Kumar S.P.
Bangalore.

Do feel free to contact Anil and communicate your commitment but please do ensure that you do make yourself available at the exam center at any cost. WebLink source here.

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